Roland D-50
The Roland D-50 is a polyphonic 61-key digital synthesizer, produced by Roland and released in 1987. Its features include Linear Arithmetic synthesis, on-board effects, a joystick for data manipulation, and an analogue synthesis-styled layout design. The external Roland PG-1000 (1987-1990) programmer could also be attached to the D-50 for more complex manipulation of its sounds. It was also produced in a rack-mount variant design, the D-550 (1987-1990), with almost 450 user-adjustable parameters. Today the D-50 is still highly popular as affordable vintage synth. It has the highest score by users of all synths at vintagesynth.com. The D-50's capabilities could be modified through the addition of third-party products by Musitronics, most notably the M-EX which made the D-50 multitimbral (the D-50 was bi-timbral), as well as a chip that improved the D-50's response to incoming MIDI commands and a system for burning custom PCM cards with user samples for playback in the D-50. The D-50 saw widespread use in popular music, with a distinctive sound that largely defined popular late 1980s music. History The D-50 was the first affordable synthesizer to combine sample playback with digital synthesis, a process that Roland called Linear Arithmetic synthesis. The engineers at Roland determined the most difficult component of a realistic instrument to simulate is the attack, so the D-50 included almost 100 sampled attacks in ROM. The synthesizer played back an attack and used the synthesizer section to create the sustain of the sound. This dual-use method was required in 1987 since RAM was so expensive. Roland did, however, incorporate a number of "texture" samples that could be mixed into the synthesized sustain-part of a patch. These sustain samples gave many D-50 patches a lush and airy quality, particularly with its heavy use of choir, wind and string samples. The D-50 is probably the first virtual analog synthesizer; the D50 was also the first digital synthesizer to integrate onboard digital effects. The Roland D-50 was awarded a TEC Award for outstanding technical achievement in musical technology in 1988. Technology Although the D-50 was among the first non-sampling machines to be able to produce sounds with sample-based characteristics, it was not long before many synthesizers on the market began using similar methods to create sounds. Roland later released a series of lower-priced keyboards and modules that allowed musicians who couldn't afford the relatively expensive flagship D-50 to have some of these sounds (Roland D-10 (1988), D-110 (rack version of D-10) (1988) D-20 (1988), D-5 (1989), MT-32). Though these lower priced D-series synthesizers did not contain the full "LA" synth engine, each was 8 part multi-timbral, and Roland doubled the number of onboard PCM samples. Roland also produced the 76-key, 6-octave "Super-LA" D-70 (1989-1990). With the D-70 Roland removed the digital synthesis section, which was replaced with full-length, more realistic and natural sounding samples, including an acoustic piano, which the D-50 lacked. The D-70 also had an expanded filter and effects section and was 5 part multi-timbral. Even with its improvements, however, the D-70 was unable to catch up with the dominant workstation of the time—the Korg M1—and failed to become the next Roland flagship synthesizer. The D-50 produces a hybrid "analog/digital" sound: one can use traditional fat analog waveforms like saw and square (digitally created on the fly unlike competing synths of the time that used PCM samples of waveforms, ala Korg DW-8000) together with PCM samples of actual acoustic instrument attack transients and famous analog synths of the past, filtered through full analog-style processing (LFOs, TVFs, TVAs, ring modulator, effects, etc.). This breakthrough led to the creation of totally new sounds never done before on either pure analog synths or samplers. Each D-50 sound ("patch") was made up of 2 "tones" (Upper and Lower) and each tone was made up of 2 "partials". Each partial could be either a "synth waveform" (pulse or sawtooth waveform) and a TVF (time-variant filter, the digital equivalent of a VCF) or a digital PCM waveform (sampled attack transient or looped sustain waveform). The partials could be arranged following 1 of 7 possible "structures" (algorithms), with a combination of either a PCM waveform or synthesized waveform, with an option to ring-modulate the two partials together. The synthesized waveforms could be pulse-width modulated and passed through a digital 4-stage Low-Pass filter, allowing for subtractive synthesis. The lower and upper part could be split or played in dual on the keyboard. The dual configuration allows an 8-voice polyphony bi-timbrality while only one partial plays, which allows for 32 voices. Not only was the synthesis method new; the D-50 was arguably the first commercial synthesizer to include digital effects such as chorus and reverb, adding to the characteristically bright, rich, lively and sometimes realistic sound, featured on countless records of the period. Each of those effects had 10+ variations with editable parameters usually found in dedicated rack effects processors rather than keyboard synths. It was also on the forefront of the change of the look of a typical keyboard player on stage: instead of being surrounded with multiple instruments, with more versatile instruments and the continued adoption of the MIDI standard, they were starting to appear with only one or two keyboards, typically a D-50 with either Yamaha DX7 or Korg M1. The D-50 was fully MIDI-compatible, though it transmits on only one channel. The keyboard was velocity- and after-touch-sensitive, and the keys were slightly "weighted" with metal for a higher-quality feel. It included 64 patches on-board, and 64 more patches were available on the expansion RAM card that was included. It use C2032 Lithium internal battery for memory back up. For its sound and build quality, and the unique synthesis method it featured, the D-50 has remained popular to this day. Its synthesis engine, in more or less updated forms, was used in Roland's JV and XP series synths, among others. Furthermore, in 2004, Roland released a VC-1 expansion card for V-Synth and VariOS synthesizers. It contained a modeled and updated D-50 synthesis engine and the original operating system, including factory- and all Roland "expansion cards" patches. Since newer DAC chips sounded different (cleaner), it included the option to simulate the D-50's "rougher" output. The D-550 is a rack-mount version of D-50, with fewer front panel controls, no joystick and sliders. It employs the same sound circuitry (the main circuit board is exactly the same in both, labeled "D-50/D-550") Notable users *808 State *ABWH *Alphaville *Aniceto Molina y Los Sabaneros *Aphex Twin *Apollo 440 *Banda America *Banda Machos *Banda Maguey *Banda Movil *Banda Pequeños Musical *Boston *BXS (Bryndis Por Siempre) *Caifanes *Campeche Show *Chicago *Charlelie Couture *Alice Coltrane *Confetti's *Danny Elfman *Devo *Duran Duran *Eat Static *Ed Wynne (Ozric Tentacles) *El Golpe *Enya *Eric Clapton *Janusz Grzywacz *Faithless *Mylène Farmer *Fiebre Amarilla *Fluke *Foreigner *Gary Numan *Grupo Anhelo *Grupo Bronco *Grupo Bryndis *Grupo Comando *Grupo Flash *Grupo Halcon *Grupo Komppaz *Grupo Mitades del Titere *Grupo Mojado *Grupo Pegasso *Grupo Samuray *Grupo Toppaz de Reynaldo Flores *George Michael *Happy Mondays *Hombres G *Industria Del Amor *Information Society *Jean Michel Jarre *Jerry Goldsmith *Jhose Aguiñada y Grupo Lora *Joe Hisaishi * Junior Klan *Kitarō *Koji Kondo *Ladrón *La Mafia *La Sombra de Chicago *La Uniøn *Liberación *Libera2 *Little Dragon *Los Bukis *Los Byby's *Los Cougar's *Los Fugitivos *Los Mier *Los Ponys *Los Rehenes *Los Reyes Locos *Los Rodarte *Los Sueños de Carapan *Los Temerarios *Los Tremendos Selputeros *LTJ Bukem *Ray Lynch *Los Yonic's *Marito Rivera Y su Grupo Bravo *Michael Jackson *Michel Jonasz *Mazz *Mike Francis *Mylene Farmer *NuBus PowerMac Death Chime *OMD *Orazal *Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark *Otmaro Ruíz *Pacifique *Parafrance Films Logo *Patrick Bruel *Paula Abdul *Pet Shop Boys *Peter Gabriel *Piel Canela *Phil Collins *Philips Interactive Media 1990 Logo *Prince *Qintex Entertainment Logo *Richard Barbieri *Rick Astley *Rick Wakeman *Rigo Tovar *Rush *Ryuichi Sakamoto *School of Seven Bells *Sesame Street Closing Theme (1992-2006) *Selena y Los Dinos *Serge Gainsbourg *Shantaje *Sonido Mazter *Super Lamas *Super Pegue *Super Sammy *Stock Aitken Waterman *The Cars *The Listening Pool *The Sisters of Mercy *Thomas Dolby *Twenty Four Hours *Vangelis *VideoTours Logo *Vince Clarke *Zarko *µ-Ziq And other users Legacy The D-50 was introduced in 1987 as the popularity of the Yamaha DX7 was declining, resulting in the D-50 being the most popular synthesizer on the market until the introduction of the Korg M1 the following year. The D-50's synthesizer-on-top-of-samples-and-through-effects innovation was an influence on the M1, which went on to become Korgs's top selling keyboard, until the release of the Korg Triton. In fact, this scheme was a common method of digital keyboard sound creation for more than a decade, until ROM and Flash RAM were finally inexpensive enough to store entire samples or multisamples. In the case of the D-50, for sound synthesis, the use of PCM samples can be bypassed completely when using Synth Partials only as the basis for sound creation. This effectively gives 4 DCO subtractive synthesis (resonant filters), which can produce some very analog like sounds that later synths could not due to their sole use of PCM samples, or 'more digital' sounding synthesis methods (such as FM or PM) as the basis for their sound creation. This digital subtractive synthesis method of sound production gave a similar, but colder and more clinical, sound when compared to the analog technology employed by previous Roland synthesizers, e.g. the previous flagship JX-10. The presets of the D-50, authored by Eric Persing and Adrian Scott, were well received by the artists' community, and most of them can be heard on numerous commercial albums of the late 1980s. The D-50's factory presets have enjoyed a long legacy, as patches like "Pizzagogo", "Digital Native Dance", "Staccato Heaven", "Fantasia", "Flutish Brass", "Jazz Guitar Duo", "Slow Rotor", "D-50 Voices", "Glass Voices", "Cathedral Organ", "Griitttarr" and "Living Calliope" are so common that they border on cliche. Some other D-50 presets live on in every machine that conforms to the General MIDI specification, including "Intruder FX", "Fantasia" (alternatively called "New Age Pad"), "Soundtrack", "Atmosphere", and "Nylon Atmosphere". The Roland V-Synth and V-Synth XT can load a card which emulates the D-50. In this mode, they copy the D-50 almost perfectly, although they lose the more sophisticated V-Synth capabilities. D Category:MIDI instruments Category:Polyphonic synthesizers Category:Digital synthesizers Category:Japanese inventions Category:Samplers (musical instrument) Category:Musical instruments invented in the 1980s Category:1980s